Tag: Amstel’95

The bicycle was introduced in the 19th century in Europe by German Inventor Karl von Drais. He is credited with developing the first bicycle. He introduced it to the people in Paris in 1818. It is supposed to originate from the human-powered vehicle called Draisines. Drais invented a walking machine that would help him get around the royal gardens faster. It was known by many names, including the “velocipede,” “dandy horse,” “hobby-horse,” “draisine” and “running machine. It had no pedals and its frame was a wooden beam. It had two same-size in-line wheels with the front one steerable and mounted in a frame which was straddled. In 1839, Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith, allegedly completed construction of a pedal driven…

The Amstel Gold Race normally signals the start of the Ardennes Classics (although it comes before Roubaix this year) and the climbers come out of the woodwork. Raced over the hills, dales, and forests of south eastern Holland, the course selects its own worthy winner. Twenty-seven years ago it was Mauro Gianetti who was making the news.The final selection came down to Cassani and Gianetti.Gianetti rode for Polti back then and had just pulled-off the biggest win of his career, in the 1995 Liege-Bastogne-Liege – LBL was the week before the Amstel in those days. Some said that his win owed more to craftiness and luck than talent; Gianetti would soon dispel that notion.PEZ: Tell us about the Amstel, Mauro.Mauro…